Armed paramilitary police had to be called in to quell a 2,000-man brawl at
the troubled Foxconn factory in Northern China that makes parts for Apple’s
iPhone 5, among other products.

Around 40 workers were hospitalised in the riot, which began at around 11pm on Sunday night in one of the factory’s dormitory blocks.

What started as a dispute between a worker and security guards in one of the factory dormitories spiralled out of control as thousands of workers streamed off their shifts and joined the fray against the plant’s 1,500 security guards.

It took four hours for the police to bring the situation under control, according to a statement from Foxconn, the owners of the plant in Taiyuan, Shanxi province.

According to accounts from witnesses posted on a Chinese website, workers from different parts of China battled the security forces and each other, while grievances over pay and working conditions were also aired. The factory’s supermarket was also destroyed.

A video shot on a camera phone showed mostly young male workers shouting and screaming while running across the factory’s campus in the dark.

On Monday, the 79,000-worker factory was shuttered while at least 35 police and paramilitary trucks remained parked outside the front gate.

“The cause of this dispute is under investigation by local authorities and we are working closely with them in this process, but it appears not to have been work-related,” Foxconn said.

The hi-tech plant, which opened in December 2004, primarily makes moulds for manufacturing a range of products, but also engineers alloy components for consumer electronics and mobile phone parts.

However, the plant has had a troubled history. Workers went on strike in March over pay, and in the run-up to the release of the iPhone 5, a Chinese newspaper exposed a series of poor working practices.